New safety technologies which rely on computers, algorithms and sensors have the potential to sharply decrease the number of motor vehicle fatalities. However, recent public demonstrations of hacking on vehicle computer systems imply that, if vehicle cybersecurity is not proactively addressed, it could compromise public trust in these systems and the technology-driven safety transformation we all want to achieve. In response, NHTSA is pursuing several avenues of cybersecurity research which will help define the scope of cybersecurity challenges and inform on potential methods of remediation. NHTSA’s cybersecurity research will also provide operational expertise in testing modern software-defined vehicles.

NHTSA is funding several research projects in addition to developing in-house cybersecurity expertise. These cybersecurity research projects include:​

• the evaluation of anomaly detection systems
• the identification of cybersecurity issues in heavy trucks
• a look into firmware updates
• the development of a formally verified V2V basic safety message parser which can help guarantee the correctness of incoming basic safety messages